In this edition of the column, I have a number of reviews for you
as well as the usual new announcements of forthcoming classic
releases. Forthcoming columns will include a new westerns round-up
and some reviews of a number of discs containing more recent British
television fare.

Reviews

There are reviews of 14 releases this time out, including material
from Fox (Daddy Long Legs,
Pin Up Girl, Fallen
Angel, House on Telegraph Hill,
No Way Out, David
and Bathsheba), Grapevine Video (a double bill of Irish
Luck and Up in the Air),
Paramount (The Andy Griffith Show: Season
Five, Stalag 17: Special
Collector's Edition, The Ten
Commandments: 50th Anniversary Collection), Shanachie (The
Abbott and Costello Show: Volumes One and Two), Sony (Midnight
Cowboy: Collector's Edition), and Universal (Carole
Lombard: The Glamour Collection). As usual the reviews
are ordered generally by year of original release.

Carole
Lombard: The Glamour Collection
(1931-1937)
(released on DVD by Universal on April 4th, 2006)

Universal has just released three collections of films focusing
on Marlene Dietrich, Mae West, and Carole Lombard. For my money,
the one for the latter is by far the most interesting and
consistently entertaining.

Lombard was born Jane Peters in 1908 and had her first part in
1921's A Perfect Crime,
before beginning her film career in earnest in 1925 for Fox
Pictures. Fox did not make effective use of her in general and
she eventually worked with Mack Sennett in a number of two-reel
comedies before signing a contract with Pathé. When that
ended, she moved to Paramount in 1930 where her first picture,
Safety in Numbers, began a
lengthy association that would last until 1937. It firmly
established the beautiful Lombard as one of the screen's top
comedy actresses.

By
then, at the height of her film popularity and soon to be married to
Clark Gable in 1939, Lombard freelanced in films, working with David
O. Selznick (Nothing Sacred,
Made for Each Other), Warner
Bros. (Fools for Scandal), RKO
(In Name Only, Vigil
in the Night, They Knew What
They Wanted, Mr. and Mrs.
Smith), and for United Artists where she made her last
film, To Be or Not to Be. She
died tragically in a plane crash while on a war bond tour in January
1942.

Even though two of Lombard's best remembered films from her
Paramount period were made outside her home studio (Twentieth
Century [1934, at Columbia] and My
Man Godfrey [1936, at Universal]), the years 1930-1937 at
Paramount were a particularly fruitful period and Universal's DVD
release of Carole Lombard: The Glamour
Collection gives us a superior sampling from it. Included
are five Paramount films (Man of the
World, We're Not Dressing,
Hands Across the Table, The
Princess Comes Across, and True
Confession) and one Universal title (Love
Before Breakfast). Three of the films have not been
available on home video before (Man of
the World, True Confession,
Love Before Breakfast). All
six titles range from good to very good, each providing fine
entertainment value during their efficient running times of about 70
to 80 minutes.

Man of the World (1931)
actually stars William Powell in a typically suave effort as a
confidence man who falls for Lombard, the niece of one of Powell's
victims. The film is clearly Powell's and he provides a masterly
performance, but Lombard does quite well in an almost ingénue-like
part. The second female lead, Wynne Gibson, is very effective as
Powell's former love and current partner in crime. Guy Kibbee
provides his standard enjoyable work as Lombard's uncle. The plot is
fairly predictable, but the ending is quite satisfying.

We're Not Dressing (1934)
teams Lombard with Bing Crosby in an amiable musical comedy that
finds the pair shipwrecked on a South Pacific island. Lombard plays
the owner of the ill-fated yacht while Crosby is one of her crew
members. Along for the ride are the likes of Leon Errol, Ray
Milland, Burns and Allen, and Ethel Merman. The plot is an extended
farce, but the cast knows its business and the results are very easy
to take. None of the songs are really memorable, but all are
pleasant and well enough balanced with various comedy elements to
make the whole thing work well. Lombard seems very relaxed with her
role, but comedically she's overshadowed to some degree by the
efforts of pros like Errol and Burns and Allen.

Hands Across the Table (1935)
is one of the three best films in the set. Lombard plays a
manicurist in whom both Ralph Bellamy, as a wheelchair-bound tycoon,
and Fred MacMurray (as a penniless heir), become interested. The
film is one of those that helped solidify Lombard's reputation as a
gifted comedienne, with nimble direction by Mitchell Leisen and a
very witty script. As usual, Ralph Bellamy doesn't get the girl,
this time losing out to MacMurray who offers a very likable
performance in what would be the first of a number of films with
Lombard.

Film Rating (Hands Across the Table): A
Disc Ratings (Video/Audio/Extras): B+/B/E

Love Before Breakfast (1936)
arose from a brief sojourn at Universal where Lombard also made My
Man Godfrey at the same time. Lombard finds herself
pursued relentlessly by Preston Foster who plays a high-powered
businessman who won't take no for an answer. Cesar Romero plays
Lombard's fiancé, the main obstacle to Foster's campaign to
woo Lombard. The film begins very energetically and Lombard provides
an outstanding performance that is both funny and sexy. Foster does
excellent work in his role, but the character is somewhat obnoxious
and one is never really rooting for him, despite the fact that his
opposition in Cesar Romero is not particularly appealing either. The
film's ending is somewhat disappointing, but at a brisk 70 minutes,
the whole concoction is quite palatable.

The Princess Comes Across
(1936) was another winner for Carole Lombard, capitalizing perfectly
on her blend of sophisticated beauty and comedy skill. This time she
plays a gal from the Bronx who passes herself off as a Swedish
princess taking a transatlantic liner from Europe to America where
she expects to be come a movie star, à la Greta Garbo. She
becomes involved with bandleader King Mantell (Fred MacMurray) who
tries to help her when a blackmailer who threatens to reveal her
real background is murdered. The blend of comedy and mystery that
ensues is delightful entertainment with Lombard and MacMurray
complementing each other very well and supported by a classic roster
of supporting players (Douglas Dumbrille, Alison Skipworth, William
Frawley, Porter Hall, Sig Rumann, Mischa Auer, and George Barbier).

True Confession (1937) once
again united Lombard and MacMurray (their fourth film together) in
an under-rated comedy that is one of the DVD set's unexpected
delights. The two stars are married with Lombard playing a would-be
writer who is given to outrageous lies and MacMurray a struggling
lawyer whose ethics keep the pair struggling financially. When one
of Lombard's efforts to earn more money gets her suspected of
committing murder, circumstances dictate that pleading guilty and
having her husband defend her may be beneficial financially in the
long run. Lombard and MacMurray were by then very comfortable
working with each other and the satirical situation their characters
found themselves in opened up numerous comedy opportunities that the
pair capitalized on very successfully. The direction by Wesley
Ruggles keeps the outrageous story from overpowering things and
allows Lombard's work to really stand out. John Barrymore
contributes a memorable co-starring performance and familiar faces
such as Una Merkel, Porter Hall, and Edgar Kennedy provide welcome
support.

Universal has packaged the six films on two double-sided discs, a
standard Universal practice that has caused problems in the past
with some defective discs that freeze up at times. Unfortunately, I
have to report that the situation is not a thing of the past, as one
of the films in my review copy (Love
Before Breakfast) froze at about the 11-minute mark. This
occurred repeatedly on both Sony and Pioneer players, although not
on my DVD-ROM player. That aside, the full-frame transfers are
generally of a high standard, offering bright, sharp images with
appropriate levels of grain that result in a nice film-like viewing
experience. Man of the World
is, predictably, somewhat weaker than the others with a softer and
grainier image, but is still quite acceptable given the film's1931
vintage. It also has the most noticeably noisy sound track in terms
of background hiss and crackle. Otherwise the mono tracks are clear
and characterized by no or minimal such distractions. All films are
also provided with English, French, and Spanish subtitles. The only
bonus material is a trailer for We're Not
Dressing. The set is easily recommended, but would be
highly so were it not for the continuing freeze-up issues with such
releases. Universal needs to address this matter with some urgency
and transparency if it intends to continue issuing its classic
releases in this fashion. The current situation has gone on far too
long without proper redress for consumers.

Irish
Luck/Up in the Air (1939/1940)
(released on DVD by Grapevine Video in March 2006)

Frankie Darro and Mantan Moreland co-starred in a series of 8
generally pleasing whodunits for Monogram during the 1939-1941
period. Irish Luck was the
first one followed by Chasing Trouble,
Laughing at Danger, On
the Spot, Up in the Air
(all 1940) and The Gang's All Here,
Let's Go Collegiate, You're
Out of Luck (all 1941). The Darro and Moreland
characters are different in each film, with Darro variously
portraying a bellhop, a page boy, a truck driver, a collegiate
student, etc. all called Frankie, while Moreland plays his
friend Jeff. Darro and Moreland work very comfortably together
and they make virtually all the films pleasant diversions
despite the generally familiar plot lines and their sometimes
cursory resolutions.

In
Irish Luck, Darro is a bellhop
who fancies himself an amateur detective (in fact, Amateur
Detective was the film's working title). He gets mixed up
in a case of stolen bonds and murder at the hotel where he works,
much to the continuing exasperation of police detective Steve
Lanahan (Dick Purcell). With Jeff's help, Frankie solves the case
(but not without Jeff twice ending up either on the roof or a ledge
of the hotel feigning jumping to attract attention and so get the
police and fire department to come to help Frankie out of a jam).

In Up in the Air, Frankie is
a page boy at a Hollywood radio station where he and his friend Jeff
aspire to be an on-air comedy duo. Once again, there's a murder to
contend with when temperamental singer Rita Wilson (Lorna Gray) is
shot dead while rehearsing. There are plenty of potential suspects
with reasons to see Rita dead and Frankie's in the midst of trying
to determine who the culprit is while also trying to promote the
station's receptionist (Marjorie Reynolds) as a new singer. Irish
Luck and Up in the Air
provide a fine introduction to the Darro/Moreland series of films if
you're not familiar with them. Both are amiable time passers
clocking in at under an hour each and each also provides a good
opportunity to see a number of familiar minor character actors in
action (Tristam Coffin, Carleton Young, Dennis Moore, James Flavin,
etc.).

Grapevine Video's DVD presentation is a mixed bag. Irish
Luck looks very good indeed. It offers a particularly
bright and fairly sharp image that's one of the better renderings
that I've seen of a Monogram film of this vintage. There are
numerous speckles and some scratches, but they never distract one
from the film. The mono sound is acceptable; dialogue is clearly
understandable despite some minor background hiss. On the other
hand, Up in the Air is merely
workable. The image is rather dark and somewhat soft-looking at
times. Shadow detail is poor. The mono sound suffers from more
noticeable hiss and crackle than does Irish
Luck. There are no supplements. Potential buyers should
note that the version of Irish Luck
reviewed here clocks in at 51 minutes - apparently six or seven
minutes shy of its original running time, likely reflecting the fact
that the print used as source material lacks the original Monogram
Pictures Corporation credit (it's been replaced by something called
International Film Renters Ltd.) and was probably a version trimmed
to fit into a one-hour slot for television. Still, the opportunity
to get both films together for $10, as available from
grapevinevideo.com, and the general good will generated by the films
makes this an offering worth recommending.

Pin Up
Girl (1944)Daddy
Long Legs (1955)
(released on DVD by Fox on February 21st, 2006)

Pin
Up Girl and Daddy Long Legs
are two of the films in the first wave of Fox's new Marquee
Musicals Collection. The third one, Weekend
in Havana, was reviewed in a previous edition of this
column.

The appearance of Pin Up Girl
is the first real indication that Fox hasn't forgotten about Betty
Grable. Her fans will be further delighted when five of her films
appear in June from Fox. That's just as well since if one had to go
by Pin Up Girl alone, one
would be wondering what all the fuss is about. The Technicolor film
looks great and so does Grable, but the rest is completely
forgettable - no songs of any memorability whatsoever and a plot
that's thin even for a musical. Some effort obviously went into the
production numbers and it's nice to have the likes of Martha Raye,
Joe E. Brown, and Eugene Pallette, but all that's not enough to
generate sufficient good will to warrant a recommendation. Fox's
presentation is very good. The Technicolor image is bright and
colourful with little source material damage in evidence. It's also
quite sharp except for a few brief sequences. The mono sound is in
good shape, and is supplemented by an English stereo track (which
sounds little different from the mono one) and English and Spanish
subtitling. Richard Schickel provides an audio commentary that's
more interesting than the film and a deleted musical number, still
photo gallery, theatrical trailer, and some lobby card reproductions
are included.

Daddy Long Legs gives us some
later Fred Astaire that's still plenty good enough. Astaire's
contract with MGM had just expired and he was considering retirement
for a second time when Fox came knocking with an offer to do a
musical version of the 1912 novel called "Daddy Long Legs".
The story involves a wealthy American businessman (Fred Astaire) who
sponsors a orphan girl's education, with the pair later falling in
love. The story was changed somewhat to account for the French
background of Leslie Caron as the young French woman. Although he
was 55 at the time, Astaire was still the classiest and most
graceful of all American dancers and the role seems made for him.
Despite the difference in age, he and Caron complement each other
well in their dances even though Caron always looked a little more
at home dancing with Gene Kelly. The film is known for its dream
sequences some of which go on too long, but its new ballad by Johnny
Mercer, "Something's Gotta Give", more than makes up for
that. The film's composition in 2.55:1 CinemaScope is striking. Fox
delivers an excellent anamorphic transfer with exquisite colour and
a very sharp, clean, and well-detailed image. The 4.0 Dolby track is
very rich and clear sounding. Spanish and French mono tracks as well
as English and Spanish sub-titles are provided. The supplements
include a lively audio commentary by Ava Astaire McKenzie and film
historian/author Ken Barnes, supplemented by archival comments from
songwriter Johnny Mercer. Also included are some Fox Movietone
newsreel footage of the film's premieres, a still photo gallery, two
theatrical trailers, and some collectible lobby cards. Recommended.

Fallen
Angel (1945)No Way
Out (1950)House on
Telegraph Hill (1951)
(released on DVD by Fox on March 7th, 2006)

Fox's
latest wave of film noir titles continues the high standard that the
studio has set with the series. It doesn't really matter that one of
the titles (No Way Out) isn't
really film noir, all are entertaining films that have been
attractively packaged and nicely supplemented by the studio on DVD.

Produced and directed by Otto Preminger as the follow-up film to his
successful Laura, Fallen
Angel is a potent combination of deceit and murder that
finds conman Dana Andrews in a small coastal town where he sees an
opportunity to cash in on a family fortune by romancing June Mills
(Alice Faye, in a role that is out of character for the long-time
musical star). Meanwhile, waitress Linda Darnell sees an opportunity
herself in Andrews as her ticket out of town. That's when murder
complicates things for everyone. The lighting, music, and
particularly the presence of Dana Andrews (a quintessential noir
player) all beg comparison with Laura
and while the results fall short, it's not by much. Fallen
Angel is often under-appreciated, but not by those who
are really beguiled by the noir style. The triangle between the
Andrews, Darnell, and Faye characters is full of ambiguity and
Preminger accentuates that through skillful intercutting among the
characters. All three principals but particularly Andrews and
Darnell are very effective. Fine support comes from Charles Bickford
as a former New York detective and the likes of Bruce Cabot and John
Carradine.

No Way Out, despite Eddie
Muller's enthusiastic audio commentary, has never struck me as
fitting the film noir tag at all comfortably. The film is an intense
drama of racial hatred that is uncompromising in its presentation.
Sidney Poitier portrays a new black intern in the criminal ward at a
hospital. Two white brothers who have been apprehended are placed in
his care, but one dies while being administered to by him. The other
brother, a virulent racist played by Richard Widmark, blames Poitier
and vows to destroy him. Fox was known for its films focusing on
social issues at the time, but No Way Out
was a particularly biting condemnation of the evils of racism. The
film was very strongly acted by both Poitier and Widmark, with the
latter delivering a performance that still startles for its
intensity and unfortunate honesty even today. Strong writing and
direction were provided by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, at the time one of
Fox's major behind-the-camera talents. The film is starkly lit and
at times reflects noir's shadowy world, but certainty rather than
ambiguity drives its characters so that the sensibility of a noir
film is never really invoked.

Film Rating (No Way Out): A
Disc Ratings (Video/Audio/Extras): A/B+/B+

In House on Telegraph Hill, we
are on safer noir ground. The story follows Victoria Kowelska
(Valentina Cortesa) who takes her friend's identity when she dies in
a World War II concentration camp. She travels to America to follow
up on her friend's young son who had ended up living with his aunt
in San Francisco. In the intervening time, the aunt has died
effectively leaving her estate to Victoria because of the identity
she has assumed. Victoria falls in love with the estate's trustee,
Alan Spender (Richard Basehart), but she soon begins to suspect that
Alan along with the boy's governess Margaret (Fay Baker) plan to
kill her to gain control of the estate. The film is atmospheric
(with inspiration from gothic films like The
Spiral Staircase and Gaslight),
has an interesting premise, and is well acted, but it's all a little
predictable (partly due to that gothic inspiration) and does not
have quite the same viewing repeatability of the others in the
current noir wave. The film's noir pedigree stems from its
photography, Victoria's air of fatalism, and the elements of
isolation and entrapment that the old house increasingly embodies.
Among the cast, Basehart and Baker stand out although Basehart
telegraphs (no pun intended) his reactions somewhat.

As usual, Fox has done well by all three films in terms of their
transfer to DVD. The images are all sharp, nicely detailed, and
present their dramatic lighting effectively. Generally, any
speckling is modest as is noticeable grain. There is somewhat less
uniformity in the sharpness of the image for House
on Telegraph Hill. The mono sound on all three films is
clear and clean. Each also offers a stereo track and English and
Spanish sub-titles. House on Telegraph
Hill also has a Spanish mono track. Film noir historian
Eddie Muller provides his normal entertaining and fact-filled audio
commentary on each film. That for Fallen
Angel also benefits from comments by Dana Andrews'
daughter Susan Andrews. Each film also offers various photo
galleries and its theatrical trailer. No
Way Out includes some Fox Movietone newsreel footage. All
three discs are recommended.

David
and Bathsheba (1951)
(released on DVD by Warner Bros. on January 31st, 2006)

Film Rating: B+
Disc Ratings (Video/Audio/Extras): A/B+/C-

I'm not sure one would expect to see Gregory Peck playing King
David, but that's what we get in David
and Bathsheba, an unexpectedly intelligent biblical
film that eschews epic for a more intimate story. It relates the
story of David's love for the beautiful Bathsheba, the wife of
another man, Uriah (Kieron Moore), whom David sends on a
hopeless mission in order to take Bathsheba (Susan Hayward) for
himself after she becomes pregnant with David's child. It's just
the first step in a progression that threatens to destroy all
that David has built up in becoming Israel's king.

As
suggested, the film is more of a character study than one might
anticipate. There are some perfunctory battle scenes, including an
unconvincing recreation of the David and Goliath confrontation, but
it is the work of Peck and Hayward individually as well as their
interactions that carry the day. Peck is particularly effective in
the climactic sequences where he seeks God's forgiveness. Hayward is
an actress who seems to have been largely forgotten in the
half-century since her best work. Sometimes given to excessive
histrionics in her acting, she manages a subdued effort in turning
in a reasonably persuasive performance here. Also in the cast are
Raymond Massey as the prophet Nathan (a stereotypical role for him)
and James Robertson Justice as David's aide. The film is a
pre-CinemaScope effort from Fox, but its character-driven approach
benefits from the pre-widescreen Academy ratio. Fox reliable Henry
King directs the story briskly for the most part, although the
conclusion feels somewhat drawn out.

Fox's full-frame presentation of the Technicolor film is quite
pleasing. The colours look accurate although somewhat subdued, but
that fits the film's mood. The image is generally sharp and
well-detailed with no hint of edge effects. There is some minor wear
and occasional speckles. The mono sound is clear and free from hiss
and does a fully satisfactory job. English stereo and Spanish and
French mono tracks are also provided as are English and Spanish
subtitles. The supplements include a colour and black and white
trailer as well as a TV spot, but more intriguing is a vintage
making-of featurette (Once in 3000 Years)
that follows Gregory Peck as he is introduced to the film project
and begins to see it all come together. Also appearing are Susan
Hayward, Henry King and writer Philip Dunne. Unfortunately only
three minutes of it seem to have survived as the featurette
terminates abruptly in the middle of Peck discussing the script with
Dunne. Still, it was thoughtful of Fox to include what does exist.
Recommended.